BERLIN, Jan 25 — Hundreds of private letters, notes and photographs belonging to Hitler’s henchman Heinrich Himmler have been found in Israel, a German newspaper reported today.

Himmler, a visceral anti-Semite who was chief of the SS and German police, played a key role in the elimination of all opposition to Hitler and implementation of the Holocaust: the concentration camps were under his authority.

The personal documents belong to a private collection in Tel Aviv, said Die Welt, which possesses copies of them.

They include mainly letters to Himmler’s wife Marga, which date from 1927 — six years before Hitler came to power — to 1945, the last written five weeks before he committed suicide on May 23 to avoid trial.

Germany’s national archives authenticated the documents.

The documents “change nothing about the general image of the horrible Nazi dictatorship,” said Die Welt which has financed a documentary using the material to show Himmler’s private life. — AFP